unintended birth-week celebrations [Part 1]

I went home for the weekend, a couple days earlier than I had planned. On Thursday, my grandma was rushed to the hospital after an unexpected collapse. She had what appeared to be similar to a stroke. I visited her often. I read our favorite Bible verses, laid next to her and she smothered me with those grandma smelling kisses. Each time I visited, I was inspired by her good spirits despite her weakness. Her faith in God seemed to overpower the pain she was enduring. After prayers and God’s healing hand, she was released on Monday. God-willing, her faith and resilience will continue to keep her strong.

After driving up for church on Sunday, I drove back down to san diego ...this time with the bfriend sitting shotgun. The ride was pretty rough for various reasons. I was a mess of emotions, but I prayed for comfort and He surely delivered. Mama’s face lit up when we walked into her room (probably more so for the surprise guest). I love seeing them interact, like bff’s. It makes my heart really happy. She was way more talkative than usual, practically telling her life story. That's a good sign. She must really like him...at least I really hope so because she may have to be around him for awhile. :)

As we were leaving, she gave us a snipit of wise words:

“Love each other, support each other, have compassion.
That’s all I want for you”.

Then, that night began my unplanned series of birthday celebrations. After some last minute phone calls, julian and i had the pleasure of having a sweet double date with the parentals. I thoroughly enjoyed spending some quality time with my parents, something I haven’t done in quite some time. It felt nice to have the four of us together for a pre-birthday meal outback-style. My date also contributed to the lovely evening.

I thank God for my parents.
I hope they know how much they are loved.

This was a nice little way to kick off the week.

God is so good [and so was that ice cream].
He constantly provides things I know I do not deserve.
I pray that in this 22nd year of life and so on, I learn to love Him more and remain faithful even during changes and challenging times.

…more updates later. It only gets better. :)